After several attempts to book a bus from Vinales to Cienfuegos, we give up and choose a taxi. We were so surprised by a price that we did not even negotiate at all (32 CUC per person, which is 2 CUC less than a bus). We should hit the road with a minibus and the whole journey should take only 4 hours, which would be twice as fast as we expected. However, the thing was a bit different (yes, they covered up a truth for a little bit)… In the morning there was a 60 years old car waiting for us in front of the house in which they manage to squeeze 8 people + driver. Yeah, just like a minibus. No problems, we will survive that. Well, at the mid-way we even replaced a car for a bigger one in which they squeezed 7 more people and one baby 🙂 That’s Cuba, everyone. Thankfully, we had a great company and those 4 hours, which lasts 7 hours, were actually passed quickly.

After three days in Havana, we went to the countryside, away from the city bustle. More specifically in a small town or rather the greater village called Viñales, which is just around 200 km or 4 hours drive from Havana.

When you will see two rocking chairs in front of each vibrant colored house and there are horses or oxen walking down the road then you will know that you have arrived at your destination. We reserved our room via Airbnb, but the locals here literally overwhelm you with offers when you step out of the bus.

What is the best thing to do after a 12 hours of sitting on a plane? Take a hot shower.. well, even the cold would be great, but we didn’t get any of this in Matanzas. Such a bad luck for us.. just when we arrived, they had a problems with ruined pipe. Anyway, we came to this place because of the relative closeness to the airport (approx. 20 km), significantly cheaper accommodations – as the same remote, but more touristic Varadero – and a good bus connection to the Havana, which was our first real stop on Cuba.

Speaking of bus transport.. there are vehicles owned by company Viazul, which are intended solely for tourists and they drive to all major tourist areas on the island, and so goes for prices, which are not that cheap. One more thing.. book your transport at home, because it might happened that your bus will be completely full on the day you will want to go somewhere. Btw, we got the last two seats from Matanzas to Havana.

New year, new journey, a new continent and a new country! This time we will use our time machine and travel back for a several decades. We’re going to the largest island in the Caribbean, where you take a ride with »carriage« instead of a taxi, rather than staying in hotels, you sleep in local’s houses and instead of free Wi-Fi connection you use the internet which emits very strange noises (if, of course, you are lucky enough to find it). The communist country, which lost its great leader in 2016, is primarily known for the revolution and the man whose portrait is being printed on T-shirts worldwide. Of course, we are talking about Cuba, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara!

In the coming years, the Cubans promise better times, US has lifted the embargo, number of tourist is growing up and with this, island is slowly losing its charm and beauty, so now should be the last moments to experience the country in its true light. And this is the best time to salsa with locals, listening to authentic Cuban music.